From the Pulpit, Chapter 10

After finishing what they could do at the FBI building Martin went home.  Hogan, Farris and Rottbruck were still there going over the files that she had brought in and catching up on some of the history of their old enemy.

“Jeez,” remarked Hogan, “This guy has been all over the map in the past few years.  Look at this.” 

He picked up a memo from a CIA agent that listed actions Usein was known to have been an accomplice in and started reading.

1. Commanded insurgent militia in western Bagdad April-November 2006
2. Directed civilian kidnapping raids in Fallujah, Kirkuk, Tikrit and Bagdad late 2006 to mid 2007.
3. Personally conducted torture and execution of civilians captured in above listed raids
4. Kazakstan 2008, witnessed buying arms and ammunition in exchange for cash and drugs with Kazaki military commanders.  These arms ended up in San Diego and Los Angeles in the hands of several gangs that were involved in the border conflict, 223 Mexican and 236 American civilians were killed during armed assaults on border security stations and commuter train depots.
5. Turkmenistan 2008, destruction of US Embassy via truck bomb, killed 132 embassy personnel and civilian passers by.
6. Pakistan March 2009, took elementary school hostage to coerce US military to release Usama Bin Ladin from prison.  When his demands were not met, Usein ordered the burning of the school with 350 children and teachers still inside, only two children managed to escape, one later died of her burns.
7. February 2010 commanded rocket and sniper assault on Egyptian consulate in Spain in retaliation for Egyptian governments support of US troop movements.

B2/7-A4

Hildegard raised her eyebrows and said, “Well he certainly isn’t not a candidate for the Mr. Rogers award now is he?”

“How in the world did he get through INS, is what I want to know.” Hogan replied.

“Same way we always got into places we weren’t supposed to Paul,” Answered Mike.  “right under their noses.  No matter how tight you make your ship, the rats will always find a way to get in.”

By they time they looked up from the mass of files on their desks it was nearly eight o’clock.  Hogan rubbed his stomach and said, “I don’t know about you folks, but my tummy is in serious need of something yummy.”

“Agreed.” Answered Mike, “are you going to join us Agent Rottbruck?”

“Of course,” Hilde answered, “if one of you is buying.”

“Gotcha covered Hilde.”  Hogan said.  “I owe you one anyway, this is good information.”

They headed out the door, each taking their own vehicle to the Blue Loon Downtown Bistro a couple miles away.  It was a popular place for quiet meals with high backed booths that were nearly sound proof, making it a preferred location for both business meetings and romantic liaisons.

After being seated in a back corner they ordered their meals and chatted as they sipped at their drinks while waiting for the food to arrive.

“So,” started Hilde, “you two go back a ways I understand?”

“Yes ma’am we do.” Answered Mike. “Paul here, quite literally saved my skin from this Usein guy in Somalia about sixteen years ago.  If it wasn’t for him, I’d just be a gross torture video being passed around on the internet.  I owe him my life.”

“Yeah well, you repaid that debt a long time preacher man.”  replied Hogan.  He turned to Hilde and continued, “Twice in Sarajevo, this guys superman like vision and reflexes kept me from getting capped.”

“Sounds pretty even then.” She said.

“Yeah pretty much.” Said Hogan. 

“So Paul,”  said Mike, “have you settled down and started a family yet?”

“Nope,” he replied, “I got medically retired from the Corps in ’02 after a Taliban RPG left a few nasty bits of metal and gravel in my shoulder.  I was just two years short of full retirement too. “

“So you went straight into the FBI from the Marines?”  asked Hilde.

“Pretty much,” he answered, “I had finished college in the 2001, then 9/11 came up and off I sent to search for Bin Ladin.  After the injuries the Corps told me I wasn’t allowed to play anymore so I figured I’d put that law degree to work.  The Bureau actually approached me in 03 and the rest is history.  I worked my way up and have been here since ’09.  I took over Task Force Tango, as I like to call it back in January of this year.”

“So you still haven’t answered my question. You have no significant other?”  asked Mike, “No romantic companions, no hot chicks waiting at home?”

“Nope,”  said Hogan his smile stiffening slightly, “don’t have the time.”

Mike sensed that his old friend was growing uncomfortable and shifted the conversation to Hildegard Rottbruck.

“So Hilde, if you don’t mind me calling you that, what about you?  What do you do outside the bureau?”

“While it is a bit early in our relationship, I suppose I can let you call me Hilde.  You seem like a relatively safe type.”  She smiled with a friendly, almost mischievous gleem and continued, “I pretty much just work.  No boyfriends or ex-husbands either or anything like that.  What little time I have to myself I tend to spend either at the gym or at my computer.”

“At your computer? ” asked Hogan, “Don’t you get enough of that at work?  I guess you techno-geeks just can’t stay away from those machines eh?”

“Actually it is not work, or anything like that?”  she answered.

“You’re a gamer?”  quipped Mike, “I never would have placed you as being a computer gamer.”

“Oh yeah…sure…Counter Strike, Sonic the Hedgehog…that’s me.”  She said sarcastically.

“Sonic the Hedgehog?”  replied Mike, “That’s so….nineties.”

“OK, so I am obviously not a gamer.”  She said. “I am actually working on writing a novel.”

“A writer.”  Said Mike, “I can picture that.  What kind of book?”

“Don’t laugh, ok?”

“No of course not.” Said Mike.

“I might.” Said Hogan as he set down his glass, “but you should expect that anyway.”

“If you do, I’ll kick you.”  Hilde replied glaring at him with a stern expression of warning.

“Mike,”  Hogan turned to the preacher, “Can I trade seats with you.  Hilde kicks like a donkey.”

They all laughed, then Mike said. ”OK, so what is this great American novel you are writing all about?”

“It’s a romantic thriller about a secret agent who falls in love with a plain old farm girl from Pennsylvania.”

Hogan’s expression was hung in expectation of the rest of the description.  “That’s it?” 

“Well, there’s secret agent stuff, too.  I mean, you can figure out the rest can’t you?  You are an agent yourself after all.”  She said, her voice getting a bit defensive.

“I see.” Said Mike reassuringly.  “The main part of the story is these two falling in love and trying to make it happen while in the middle of a dangerous situation that draws them closer together, yet the danger may drive them apart.  Right?”

“Yeah, something like that.”  She answered.

“Something like that?”  Hogan said sarcastically.  “That’s like the premise to almost every thriller out there.  What’s the catch?  What’ll make me go buy it?”

She pursed her lips at his questioning then explained her story more. “Well, part of it is that the agent is resisting falling in love with the girl, or at least letting her know that he is in love with her, because his last girlfriend was killed by his enemies, and that sent him off the deep end for a while. Then ….”

Hilde suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

“Oh God!”  she blushed deeply, “I am so sorry Mike.  I didn’t mean to bring something like that up.  I… oh God… I am so sorry.”

Mike simply smiled at her comfortingly and said, “Don’t worry about.  There’s nothing to feel bad about.  Life goes on.”

Hogan’s smile faded altogether and he tried clumsily to act as if nothing had happened.  “So Hilde, have you done any other writing?  Gotten anything published yet.”

“No.” she replied quietly, almost mumbling, “This one is only a draft still.  I don’t even know how to end it.”

“I am sure you will come up with something.”  Mike told her.  “Don’t worry,  you seem like a pretty smart woman.  Besides, life has a way of providing us with endings for every story.”

“More wine?” asked Hogan, picking up the bottle of Cabernet the waiter had left. 

“Yes please.”  Replied Hilde. 

“Just a little for me.” Answered Mike scooting his glass towards his friend.

The food came, and it was quite delicious.  The conversation meandered about each persons childhood and past adventures of the two Marines, but Hilde didn’t really get into it.  She was too busy beating herself inside for having been so thoughtless.  

She was also trying everything she could do to not fall in love with Mike Farris herself, but was not finding the task easy.

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